Students from a number of small schools; Girilambone, Hermidale, Marra Creek, Carinda, Quambone and Pilliga, along with a small group from Nyngan Public School gathered together for two days of film making.

'Film by' celebrates and supports the establishment of autonomous film communities and festivals in NSW public schools. Their programs embed visual literacy and film making into classroom practice.

The students were joined by the 'Films by' crew: Glen Carter, Project Officer and President; Karen Beutler, Professional Learning Coordinator; and some awesome Filmaker teachers from around the state including John Skene and Jade McMillan, Miranda PS; Mark Watt, Terara PS and Susan Gonzalez, Forster PS.

Staff and students investigated what it takes to make a film, including the processes, who is involved and what techniques are used.

The 'Films by' crew then whisked the students away to show them how to make a film trailer while the staff commenced their professional learning with Karen.

Students were keen planning our short films.

Student's ideas were turned into story boards, to help visualise what was going to happen in our films.

In preparation for day two of filming, groups, scouted for locations to film the various scenes.

The second say saw a run down on all the different roles in film making such as the director, assistant director, camera man, sound operator, the clapper board operator, not to mention the actors. Then each school group headed off to shoot their film.

Some great short films were shot during the course of the day, many only needing some minor editing once back at school.

In the future, we plan to present a film festival like many others that are being held around the state. This will involve a red carpet event. How this will look, given the physical distances between the schools is still in the planning but watch this space.

Thanks go to the 'Film by' crew who took the time to come and share their knowledge and skills with us, and thanks to Nyngan Public School for joining us and allowing us to run the fantastic learning opportunity in their school.